ANIMAL RIDDLES

This is a game that can be useful to practise vocabulary related to animals. Also, it can be used as an ice breaker or warm up.

Click here to see the game.

GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER

Personal Information

This is a good activity to use at the begining of the school year. It is a way to introduce themselves. Students walk around the class in order to find out information about their classmates. After that, they have to introduce their new classmate.

Click here to see the worksheet

Titanic - Timeline Activity

Through this activity, students place the events of the story in the chronological order. They can work in groups of 4 students. After that, they exchange groups and each group checks other groups´chronological order. This activity allows students to practise listening skills, too.

Click here to see the worksheet.

MOVIES

 THE HISTORY BEHIND THE MOVIES

Teacher asks the students to work in A- and B-groups. A-groups then look at stories 1 and 2; B-groups

look at stories 3 and 4. After that each group is given a set of verbs and students have to complete each story. Then students exchange their stories with someone in one of the other groups (A->B; B->A). The other person should ask them questions about their stories to see how much they remember. Then students ask the other students about their stories.

Click here to see the readings.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms & “All Alone on Christmas” by Darlene Love

Who hasn´t ever heard Christmas Carols? They are wonderful and in this section there are two of them that are traditional in the USA. Students listen to the song and fill in the blanks.

Click here to see the lyrics of these songs 

Songs in English

"The Reason" by Hoobastank

Students get motivated when they listen to some songs even more when the songs come from their favorite singers. By listening to songs, they develop their listening skill and expand their vocabulary.

Click here to see the lyric of this song.

BINGO

HAVE YOU EVER....?

By doing this activity, students are asked to find a classmate to fit each category in the Bingo card and they ask their partners to sigh their names in the appropriate blank. Explain them that just one person has to sigh his/her name one time. The student who has filled every picture with his/her classmate´s name is the winner and should shout "BINGO".

Click here to see the Bingo Card

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF...?

GUIDED INTERVIEW

This activity allows students to practise the speaking skills. Each student is questioned by all the other students in the class. This an exellent activity to focus students´values and attitudes.

Click here to see the questionnaire

HELPFUL ADVICE

PROBLEM SOLVING ACTIVITY

Through this activity, students are given strips of paper with different situations. The activity is done in groups and they try to find a solution to that problem.

Click here to see the strips of paper.

My brother´s daily Routine

JIGSAW ACTIVITY

Students work in Groups of 4. The teacher gives each group a set of pictures and descriptions about a person´s daily activities. Students have to match the pictures and the descriptions correctly. After that, they have to put in order the story.

Click here to see the worksheet

Daily Routines

MATCHING ACTIVITY

Students enjoy talking about daily routines. This activity has been designed to reinforce students´vocabulary related to daily routines.

Click here to see the worksheet

Family Members

This activity has been created to practise vocabulary related to family members.

Click here to see the activity 

COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING AND THE INTERNET

DISADVANTAGES OF USING THE INTERNET

http://www.articleswave.com/computer-articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-the-internet.html

There are a number of disadvantages or obstacles we need to consider.

      First, technical and financial problems, such as long waiting time to access information and costs related to the acquisition of computers, programmes, training, telephone lines and other expenses. Lack of training and familiarity with computers and the Internet (on the part of both learners and teachers) can lead to frustration, instead of offering a motivating learning experience.

     The enormous quantity of information found on the Internet can also be a disadvantage. First, it may be difficult for students to focus on what they want to do, with so many possibilities to side-track. Secondly, a lot of the material on the net is unsuitable for children and young learners, and it is virtually impossible to bar them from accessing it.

     Finally, we have to address a problem that is not intrinsic to CALL and the Internet, but to how teachers use these resources. As Warschauer (1997) recommends, “in order to make effective use of new technologies, teachers must thus take a step back and focus on some basic pedagogical requirements”.

COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING AND THE INTERNET

ADVANTAGES OF USING THE INTERNET

There are many advantages in using the Internet.

      First, taking part in the Internet is intrinsically motivating for students, since they see it as a trendy and useful tool, enabling them to be connected with the world. As English is the main language in the Internet, learners begin to appreciate the usefulness in learning the language. Using the net also gives students control over their learning, enabling them to go at their own pace and choose their paths according to their individual needs, which may also be motivating. It helps in promoting learner independence and the development of learning strategies, provided that learners receive appropriate guidance.

     Secondly, the World Wide Web (WWW) give students instant access to a wide range of authentic material, from newspaper and magazine articles to radio broadcasts and informal chat-rooms, and also to material prepared specially for learners, such as grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary exercises and tests. Apart from retrieving information from the Internet, learners can also create their own materials, such as projects, and share them with partner classes or with the general public. This possibility also adds a great deal of interest, as learners communicate with a real audience. Because the internet is primarily text driven, it appeals to shy students, giving them time to think and participate in exchanges in a chat room, e-mail or class conferencing.

     Another positive outcome of Internet use is improved reading and writing skills. Furthermore, because language used on the Internet tends to be lexically and syntactically more complex than oral discourse, students may gain a broader range of English. Communication with native speakers forces students to practice specific skills such as negotiating, persuading, clarifying meaning, and requesting information. In the near future, technical developments will probably make it easier to exchanges messages orally as well, which will mean even more chances for skills development.

Finally, the Internet allows learners to participate in the culture of the target language and to see real language in context, away from course books and the classroom.

Communicative Approach

COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication. The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life. Unlike the audiolingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses. The real-life simulations change from day to day. Students' motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics.

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it. 

Cooperative efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so that all group members:

Ø  gain from each other's efforts. (Your success benefits me and my success benefits you.)

Ø  recognize that all group members share a common fate. (We all sink or swim together here.)

Ø  know that one's performance is mutually caused by oneself and one's team members. (We can not do it without you.)

Ø  feel proud and jointly celebrate when a group member is recognized for achievement. (We all congratulate you on your accomplishment!).

Why use Cooperative Learning?

Research has shown that cooperative learning techniques:

·         promote student learning and academic achievement

·         increase student retention

·         enhance student satisfaction with their learning experience

·         help students develop skills in oral communication

·         develop students' social skills

·         promote student self-esteem

·         help to promote positive race relations

Elements of Cooperative Learning

It is only under certain conditions that cooperative efforts may be expected to be more productive than competitive and individualistic efforts. Those conditions are:

1. Positive Interdependence
(sink or swim together)

Ø  Each group member's efforts are required and indispensable for group success

Ø  Each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities

2. Face-to-Face Interaction  

Ø  Orally explaining how to solve problems

Ø  Teaching one's knowledge to other

Ø  Checking for understanding

Ø  Discussing concepts being learned

Ø  Connecting present with past learning

3. Individual & Group Accountability

Ø  Keeping the size of the group small. The smaller the size of the group, the greater the individual accountability may be.

Ø  Giving an individual test to each student.

Ø  Randomly examining students orally by calling on one student to present his or her group's work to the teacher (in the presence of the group) or to the entire class.

Ø  Observing each group and recording the frequency with which each member-contributes to the group's work.

Ø  Assigning one student in each group the role of checker. The checker asks other group members to explain the reasoning and rationale underlying group answers.

Ø  Having students teach what they learned to someone else. 

4. Interpersonal & Small-Group Skills

Ø  Social skills must be taught:

o   Leadership

o   Decision-making

o   Trust-building

o   Communication

o   Conflict-management skills

5. Group Processing

Ø  Group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships

Ø  Describe what member actions are helpful and not helpful

Ø  Make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change

ACTIVE LEARNING

Active Learning

Active learning is a process whereby students engage in activities, such as reading, writing, discussion, or problem solving that promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of class content. Cooperative learning, problem-based learning, and the use of case methods and simulations are some approaches that promote active learning. This section provides links to bibliographies, research summaries, articles, and other resources about active learning.

 

Tips to enhance Student Participation in Active Learning

Getting students to participate in class

 Here are a few simple strategies to get students to respond to questions or participate more:

1. give students a clue regarding the kind of response that you are expecting

2. give students a minute to write their thoughts before anyone is called upon

3. break students into small groups to discuss the answer, then bring them back to the

   whole group.

4. arrive early to class and chat with students informally (helps them fail more comfortable)

5. use non-verbal means to invite people to participate - sit close to students, make eye

   contact with them individually, move around the room, or sit in different location

 Promoting class participation, discussion among the entire class

    If you want the class to actively participate in discussions, you might consider the

    following:

1. State it clearly in your class syllabus, establish it as an expectation at the first day of class

2. Count it as part of the grade

3. If possible, arrange chairs in circle or U or have students seat in fixed seating in such a

    way to foster eye contact with each other

4. Sit among the students during the discussion part of the class

5. If one student is dominating the discussion at the expense of the others - break eye contact with that student and look at others.

 Student classroom participation

One way to get the students to participate more in class is to give them an assignment that they have to come prepared to speak about. For example, you might ask them to bring a quote from the assigned reading which they especially related to, was inspiring or enlightening. Or you might ask them to bring a quote of a passage that they did not understand.

COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING

     With recent advances in multimedia technology, computer-aided language learning (CALL) has emerged as a tempting alternative to traditional modes of supplementing or replacing direct student-teacher interaction, such as the language laboratory or audio-tape-based self-study. The integration of sound, voice interaction, text, video, and animation has made it possible to create self-paced interactive learning environments that promise to enhance the classroom model of language learning significantly.

The Benefits of Wikis in the classroom

   

Students can use wikis as platforms for collaborative problem solving; group laboratory reports; "WebEssays" (essays that combine images, text, and hyperlinks); classroom writing projects; and the creation of a class "textbook." Basically, wikis can be used to support any type of collaborative student project. In other words, wikis enhable anyone and everyone to create content online using easily understandable tools.

Interactive Whiteboards in the classroom

Interactive Whiteboards are phenomenal tools. Don't know what an interactive whiteboard is? Perhaps you've heard of some of their brand names - SMART Board, ActivBoard, eBeam, Mimio, and Webster are some of the most widely used at this time.

"Interactive whiteboards are used in many schools as replacements for traditional whiteboards or flipcharts. They provide ways to show students any thing which can be presented on a computer's desktop (educational software, web sites, and others). In addition, interactive whiteboards allow teachers to record their instruction and post the material for review by students at a later time. This can be a very effective instructional strategy for students who benefit from repetition, who need to see the material presented again, for students who are absent from school, for struggling learners, and for review for examinations. Brief instructional blocks can be recorded for review by students—they will see the exact presentation that occurred in the classroom with the teacher's audio input. This can help transform learning and instruction."

ICT Integration in the Classroom

Technology plays an important role in Education. Therefore, it is a good idea that teachers try to use this tool in order to enhance their students´ learning. Using ICT as a tool for learning enables students to:

efficiently and effectively access digital information to assist with investigating issues, solving problems and decision making. produce creative solutions to support learning and develop new understandings in areas of learning. communicate, share and work collaboratively in local and global environments. understand the legal, ethical and health and safety implications of using ICT and their responsibilities as users and developers. develop new thinking and learning skills to support learning.